The Philadelphia 76ers will take on the Orlando Magic at home for the right to enter the playoffs as the seventh seed in the East. While nothing is guaranteed, anything can happen in a single game. Despite the hosts touting some degree of advantage heading into this play-in matchup, it is still daring to just pencil them in as surefire winners at this point.
For Andre Drummond, though, this might actually be his final chance to prove his worth for the team. If the 76ers get booted out in the play-in and fail to sneak into the playoffs, there is a very good chance that the front office will end up moving on from his this offseason given that he is one of the 10 players on the roster who will be hitting the open market anyway.
The backup center spot continues to be an uncertain part of the roster for the 76ers, and Joel Embiid mising time on the regular has only made that an even more pressing area in need of a solution. And given how he has fared this season, suffice to say that coming to terms with Drummond’s camp on another deal is going to be a hard sell for the front office.
The 76ers are likely to part ways with Andre Drummond this summer
Embiid will be missing the play-in and the start of the playoffs (assuming the 76ers get there), which means that Drummond will keep getting more exposure on the hardwood to hold down the fort inside. In all honesty, though, the veteran big man has been pretty serviceable this season, especially after looking unplayable last season.
Drummond remains one of the most dominant board-crashers in the entire league, and this time around, he has added a new dimension to his game — three-point shooting. He has made more triples this season than in all of his previous years combined, and he has drained them at 35.6 percent clip, which is a very respectable mark.
Be that as it may, the 76ers have a slew of reasons to seek a younger and more foolproof option at the position. First off, they already have Adem Bona and Dominick Barlow on the roster. Second, Drummond has already shown signs of real decline as a finisher in the paint and rim deterrent. Third, the market is not exactly lacking in terms of options at the 5.
As such, if the 76ers lose in the playing tournament (note that they have two cracks therein), Andre Drummond will be as good as gone. He has been a largely positive presence for the team, but in all reality, he is far from indispensable.
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